Children wait as their mother collects food being distributed in a neighborhood recently retaken by Iraqi security forces from Islamic State militants on the western side of in Mosul, Iraq, Friday, March 31, 2017. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

The current mission, launched last year, saw the Liberal government withdraw Canadian fighter jets from the U.S.-led bombing campaign against ISIL, but triple the number of special forces in northern Iraq.

It also added a helicopter detachment to transport and resupply those soldiers as well as a 50-person intelligence unit, and kept two surveillance planes and a refuelling aircraft in the region.

The mission had been set to expire on Friday.

The battle for Mosul is expected to take several more weeks, if not months, as Iraqi forces engage in bloody house-to-house fighting to push the extremist group from the country’s second-largest city.

Military commanders have warned that victory in Mosul won’t mark the end of ISIL in Iraq, as most expect it to abandon conventional military fighting in favour of terror tactics like suicide bombings and IEDs.

That will require different training and support from the international community, which to this point has been largely focused on helping Iraqi and Kurdish forces fight ISIL as a regular military force.